plan b is not the way to go unless we are trying to get in second place to countries like china and others. if we want to stay in the lead, we need to get our fiscal house in order and reject this plan b. the speaker pro tempore: all time on the democratic side has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin has two minutes remaining. mr. ryan: mr. speaker, let's take a step back and remind us where we are. on january 1, if we do nothing, every american taxpayer will see a massive tax increase. that will dramatically hurt our economy and families. the next day, we'll face a 10% cut in our defense budget. americans chose divided government. whether it was intended or not. the president won. the house is still a republican house. we are going to have to find a way to make this work. this is what we are intending on doing today. we want to avert this crisis, this cliff. but that means beginning to get spending under control. that means to prevent as many tax increases hitting as many americans as possible. i mean this sincerely, my friend from maryland says we need a balanced approach. the presiden